Thursday, June 16, 2016

Sometimes the clash of civilizations and differences in laws between countries can lead to weird situations and seemingly very wrong treatment. For the western world and all concepts of being civilized, a lady stating that she was raped would lead to a police investigation to find the rapist, to give her medical help and the counseling to enable her to overcome the trauma, and sometimes that trauma can take time to get over. It is not expected that she would be blamed for what happened, and it would not be expected that she would have to suffer a jail term.
And this is where what happens in the Islamic world can literally jar the western and 'civilized' world. Pakistan had many years implemented a stricter interpretation of laws through the Hudood laws, which mandated that a woman had to provide 4 witnesses for a rape allegation, else she could be prosecuted for adultery (link to Wiki).
Yet another instance of a case has come about in Qatar. A Dutch woman had gone to a bar where she was apparently drugged and found herself in a strange place, and realized that she been raped. Upon making the charge, she found that she was herself in the dock, along with the rapist. She was charged with illegal sex, and also for being drunk (so this makes it weird, she was raped and yet charged with an illegal sex act). (link to article):

At a court hearing in Doha Monday, the 22-year old, whom CNN has identified only as Laura, was handed a one-year suspended sentence and placed on probation for three years for the sex-related charge, and fined 3,000 Qatari Riyals ($823) for being drunk outside a licensed location.
She'll almost certainly be deported immediately.
A Syrian man also appeared alongside her and was found guilty of the same crimes. He was sentenced to 100 lashes for the illicit fornication charge and a further 40 lashes for the illegal consumption of alcohol. As a Muslim he is not allowed to drink at all under Qatari law.
No mention was made of the rape accusation during proceedings. Neither defendant was present in court, in what was the third hearing in the case.